The LA Metro Board today voted 10-1 to allow Measure R sales tax funds to be moved from highway projects to transit and vice versa if supported by a two-thirds vote of the board. Only Metro Board Chairman and LA County Supervisor Michael Antonovich voted against the measure, contending that the LA mayor, who appoints 4 board members, would have undue influence. The motion was key to earning the support of the San Gabriel Valley Council of Governments -- which wants to use some highway funding to extend the Foothill extension of the Gold Line to Claremont -- for an extension of Measure R.

Tomorrow (Tuesday) the LA County Board of Supervisors will vote on whether to put the Measure R extension on the November ballot. The extension of the sales tax, to 2069, would provide LA Metro with a longer revenue stream to bond against, making it easier for the agency to get money up front to build all Measure R funded projects now, when the economy could really use the boost.

The state legislature still has to approve AB 1446, which authorizes the collection of the tax if the voters approve it, and AB 1446 still has to be signed by Governor Jerry Brown.

Metro staff has said all material must be submitted to the County Registrar by August 10 if the measure is to get on the November ballot.

 

San Francisco, #2, trumped LA, #4, "which could cause quite a stir," according to the Urban Times blog. But the choice of Seattle as #1 was "the most shocking revelation." NYC is #3. Washington DC and Chicago are #5 and #6. The analysis, by timeRAZOR, looked at the number of restaurants, bars and clubs; museums, theaters, stadiums and arenas; galleries and concert venues; percentage of young people; percentage of college degrees; and median salary for college grads. Read it at theurbn.com.

 

 

The Metro board is meeting today to debate the motion put forward by Board Member and Duarte City Councilman John Fasana allowing funds to be moved from highway projects to transit and vice versa within the subregion where the project is funded. Fasana's amendment is widely expected to pass and was key to earning the endorsement of the San Gabriel Valley Council of Governments for a proposed extension of Measure R that could appear on the November ballot. Damien Newton had it all on Streetsblog on Friday.

The newly capitalized TIFIA loan program in the MAP-21 federal transportation bill is being called the “largest transportation infrastructure financing fund” in USDOT history. But on a Transportation for America call about MAP-21 today former USDOT Undersecretary of Policy Roy Kienitz wondered whether federal transportation loans instead of grants aren’t the way of the future, given declining federal gas tax revenues. That could work well for LA, because Measure R has provides us with a revenue stream that can be used to secure TIFIA loans. There are regions that aren’t so lucky. Consider the failure of a sales tax measure in the Atlanta region last Tuesday, which went down in defeat due to what one commentator calls “the three-cornered politics” of transportation today:  the road lobby, the environmental/transit coalition, and anti-tax and anti-spending conservatives. Read more.


 

 

LA Metro is offering to tell you "everything you want to know about the new federal surface transportation bill but were afraid to ask." This session, in Metro's board room, follows on the heels of similar sessions by Transportation for America and over-subscribed sessions on the TIFIA loan program -- which USDOT calls the largest transportation infrastructure financing fund in its history -- by the National Highway Institute.

In the board room at LA Metro on Wednesday, August 15, 9:30 a.m. to noon. RSVP by August 10 to [email protected] Here's the flier.

 

 

Due to the overwhelming response for the National Highway Institute's MAP-21 TIFIA webinar with Assistant Secretary Chris Bertram, a second session has been added on Friday, August 3, from 10-11 a.m. PDT. Due to limited space you are asked to share locations to the extent possible. Click on the link below to register.

Register here.

In this conference call, Transportation for America will offer an in-depth look at the policies in the new transportation law, MAP-21. Former USDOT Undersecretary of Policy Roy Kienitz will moderate a panel of experts who will share insights about the specific policies contained in MAP-21.
What: MAP-21 Policy Discussion
When: Thursday, August 2, 11 a.m. PDT
Call: 866-740-1260 Passcode is 3355141
Here is a chart you can download comparing current law under SAFETEA-LU, the original House proposal H.R.7, and the new law under MAP-21.

Transportation for America is a broad national coalition focused on creating a national transportation program that will take America into the 21st century by modernizing our infrastructure and building healthy communities where all people can live, work and play.

 

 

 

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that voters rejected a $7.2 billion transportation plan yesterday that business leaders called an essential bulwark against regional decline. The defeat of the 10-year, 1 percent sales tax leaves the Atlanta region's traffic congestion problem with no visible remedy. The vote was no surprise to independent pollsters who in recent weeks predicted an overwhelming loss, fueled by citizens' distrust of government and the metro area's splintered transportation desires. The metro Atlanta tax would have built a $6.14 billion list of 157 regional projects — relieving congestion at key Interstate highway chokepoints and opening 29 miles of new rail track to passengers, among others — as well as $1 billion worth of smaller local projects. The list was negotiated by 21 mayors and county commissioners from all 10 counties, and it contained about half transit and half roads. Re-playing 40 years of Atlanta history, controversy built instantly around the proposed expansion of mass transit. Some loved it, some hated it.

Read it in the Atlanta Journal Constitution

Downtown voters will decide the fate of a $125-million effort to bring a trolley system back to Los Angeles after the City Council on Tuesday agreed to let residents decide on the special tax measure in November. Council members approved formation of a taxing district that encompasses about 7,000 registered voters and 397 acres of land downtown. The measure needs a two-thirds majority to pass.

Under the proposal, property owners would pay a tax proportional to the square footage of their holdings and their property's proximity to the streetcar lines. A condo owner living in a 1,000-square-foot space would pay $200 to $500 a year, while a hotel owner could pay several hundred thousand dollars in assessments. City leaders hope to generate $62.5 million.

Read more . . .

Tomorrow the Los Angeles City Council will consider a series of city ordinances that, if approved, will allow registered voters along the proposed alignment of the Downtown L.A. Streetcar area to vote on local funding for the project. This City Council approval is critical to the project’s ability to move forward and receive federal funding.

Paraphrased from the LA Streetcar website: Financing plans for streetcars can best be characterized as the creative leveraging of a diverse array of federal, state and local funding sources . . . While there are federal funding programs that can be used to fund streetcars there are also reasons to pursue local and state funding as well. For example, the federal funding evaluation process is expensive and time-consuming, and favors projects that save time for commuters instead of streetcars, which are slow and stop frequently to facilitate the circulation of passengers in densely populated neighborhoods like downtown.

The meeting is in City Hall Room 340 at 10 a.m. Read more.